Why Do We "Hulk Out" At Our Kids Sometimes?
Feb 09, 2026
Dear Parents,
There’s a moment many parents of teens know too well.
You’re fine.
You’re reasonable.
You’re doing all the “right” things.
And then—boom.
Your nervous system whips right out of the window of tolerance--your voice raises, and suddenly you’re saying things you don’t quite recognize in yourself or maybe you recognize that voice as that of your own parent.
In this follow-up, frank, unscripted, and fully unmuted episode, Emma Gleadhill and I talk openly about becoming Hulk-like while parenting teens—from both the teen’s point of view and the parent’s.
Not the Instagram version.
Not the “I always stay regulated” fantasy.
The real one.
Two clinicians. Two moms. Two very human nervous systems.
And a whole lot of truth.
What is that?
Simply: Dysregulation happens—even when you know better.
Knowing the neuroscience does not exempt you from being human.
Emma and I talk candidly about dysregulation—not as a parenting failure, but as a nervous-system event. Teens push on us when we are already tired, already stretched, already tender. Their intensity meets our depleted reserves, and suddenly everyone’s operating from the basement of the brain.
Guess what? That means you’re human.
And when both parent and teen are dysregulated, shame is usually right behind it.
This conversation isn’t about techniques.
It’s about acceptance
Permission to be imperfect.
Permission to be real.
Permission to stop measuring yourself against an impossible standard.
When parents accept their own humanness, something shifts:
- The nervous system softens.
- Shame loosens its grip.
- Teens feel less alone in their big feelings.
As you listen to this week's episode, consider this:
When was the last time you blew your stack with your teen?
Did you repair—with them?
Did you repair—with yourself?
Did you allow yourself to be human… without self-criticism and self-loathing
If this episode feels like sitting down with a couple of wise, honest friends who get it—it’s because that’s exactly what it is.
Check out the full podcast at the links below.
Your Love Matters,
Ce
This week’s Unmuted Love podcast episode can be found at the links below:
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Creator of the Love+ Parenting Model found only in the Love Matters Parenting Society Therapeutic Parent Program.
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